Adam Mangel is a remarkable early-career scientist who has made important and diverse scientific contributions to near-surface geophysics that span vadose zone dynamics, remediation monitoring, ground-penetrating radar (GPR), and drone-based geophysics. Adam is also a generous contributor to the near-surface community—through mentoring, editorial service, leadership roles, and service on committees for multiple societies.

Adam’s doctoral research at Clemson University produced important contributions using GPR to monitor unsaturated flow dynamics; this work included advances spanning experimental, theoretical, and inverse methodology. He automated GPR data acquisition, advanced reflection imaging, and demonstrated that GPR can resolve infiltration and reveal new understanding of flow dynamics and spatial variability. From this work, Adam published papers in top hydrologic and geophysical journals.

As a postdoctoral scientist at Colorado School of Mines, Adam continued working to bridge geophysics and hydrology, with new experimental research to monitor soil moisture and transpiration through trees. Concurrently, he pioneered a new stepped-frequency approach for full-waveform inversion of surface-based multioffset ground-penetrating radar data. Adam’s postdoctoral work contributed to another paper at Hydrology and Earth Systems Sciences.

Through these experiences, Adam continued to both deepen and broaden his skill set.

At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Adam brought his expertise in vadose zone characterization and monitoring to bear on problems related to soil and groundwater remediation at the Hanford Site. He led and contributed to GPR, electromagnetic (EM), and electrical geophysical investigations to assess different technologies for remediation, including soil desiccation and evapotranspiration barriers. Adam quickly assumed leadership roles in these efforts. Adam’s work at PNNL produced a portfolio of important papers and reports, including an assessment of geophysical tools to monitor evapotranspiration barriers.

Adam is well known in our community for his enthusiasm, advocacy, and generous support to students and other early-career scientists. His many service roles include work on committees for AGU, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), and the Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society (EEGS). Adam recently served as chair of the Hydrogeophysics Technical Committee for AGU, where he led efforts to organize sessions for conferences and interaction with AGU sections and other societies. At SEG, Adam served as editor for a special hydrogeophysics section of that society’s flagship journal, Geophysics. During his graduate work, Adam served EEGS as student representative and the Clemson Chapter president.

Adam is highly deserving of the AGU Near-Surface Geophysics Early Career Achievement Award in recognition of his scientific impact and many contributions to the field and community.

—Fred Day-Lewis, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash.

I’m honored to receive the 2023 Near-Surface Geophysics Early Career Achievement Award and grateful to Frederick Day-Lewis for leading my nomination. I’m also grateful to know Kamini Singha, Majken Looms, and Dale Werkema, and I thank them for writing strong letters of support on my behalf; it’s extremely humbling to know that such highly accomplished scientists are willing to advocate for me. I’d like to dedicate this award to my parents; it was only proper for me to become a geoscientist considering how they both spent some years of their childhood at Griffon Manor, aka Love Canal. Of course, having my mother directly suggest a geoscience career and having a 40-acre farm in the rural backdrop of Cambria, N.Y., as a playground certainly helped. I had no idea I would love this work so much, but I remember finding a sense of purpose when I started at the University at Buffalo in the geology department. I want to thank Richelle Allen-King for offering me a job cleaning glassware in her lab for a couple hours per week and giving me my first introduction to research. I owe a lot to Stephen Moysey, who supported me at a critical checkpoint in my career by providing the education and opportunities to make an impact. I’m indebted to Stephen for teaching me how to be a scientist and how to speak and write about my work. I’m also deeply grateful to John Bradford for having me as his postdoc for 2 years in Golden. I loved the work we did there, and loved working with the students; Italy and Mount St. Helens were cool too. After Mines, I accepted a position as a staff scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Since receiving this award, I unfortunately had to leave PNNL, but I want to extend my gratitude to Tim Johnson, Amir Ahkami, Rob Mackley, Vanessa Bailey, Chris Strickland, and Hunter Knox for their leadership and guidance in helping me be a successful scientist at National Lab. Thanks to Matt Taubman, Dory Linneman, Parker Sprinkle, James Knox, Yannie Donaldson, Stephanie Marquez, Hilary Emerson, Becca Bence, and Jayde Aufrecht for the friendships and research partnerships. Big thanks to Tom Wietsma for always having time for a beer and a chat. I also owe a lot to my partner, Amy Mangel, whom I met during my tenure as a graduate student at Clemson University. She’s the one who watched the dogs, watched the house, and watches the kids, while we journey through our careers and raise a family of our own. There are countless others that I will need to thank at another time, and I hope we get that opportunity. I’m happy to be a part of this community and hopeful as we continue to focus on technical achievements and work to steward an accepting and equitable culture of curious scientists. —Adam R. Mangel, Haley & Aldrich Inc., Midlothian, Va.